Oil Shale

If you thought fracking was a water-guzzling and violent way to get the oil and gas flowing from shale, then you should check out oil shale* retorting. Earlier this month, details were made public regarding an oil shale project Chevron proposes for western Colorado. Of particular note was the amount of energy and water it will take to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Ten million people will live in Colorado by 2050, putting strains on the water supply that can only be met by taking water from agriculture and building new pipelines from the Western Slope to the Front Ra

A mystery of sorts hangs over the question of where Antero Resources, the gas drilling company planning to sink up to 200 wells in the Battlement Mesa neighborhood, is going to get the water to be used in

The Department of the Interior will offer a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases for oil shale in Colorado and Utah and withdraw the previous administration's proposal for expand

A coalition of 11 environmental groups, including the Sierra Club
and Defenders of Wildlife, has notified the federal government that
they will sue over two recent actions designed to foster oil shale
development in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

The era of water development in Colorado is over, and the state’s new task will be to manage the water resources it has. One small problem: No one has yet articulated what the future of the state looks like.